Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise in high-res (83 HQ Photos)

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise in high-res (83 HQ Photos)

 

From Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne/WhiteKnightTwo to the “VSS Enterprise”…this is the future (for better or not). That being said, many NASA minds are going into this project.

VSS Enterprise Makes First Crewed Flight

15th July was a significant milestone for Scaled Composites as the team march towards the first solo flights of VSS Enterprise.
For the first time VSS Enterprise flew with crew on board. As planned, the spaceship remained attached to VMS Eve (captive) for the duration of the flight and numerous combined vehicle systems tests were conducted. In addition and for the first time, the two crew members on board VSS Enterprise, evaluated all of the spaceship’s systems and functions from end to end in the air. Objectives achieved.
Congratulations to the whole team!

Mission Details:
? WhiteKnightTwo (VMS Eve) flight number 33
? SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise) flight number three in captive carry configuration.
? Flight Time: 6 hours 12 minutes
? VMS Eve crew: Mark Stucky, Peter Kalogiannis, Brian Maisler
? VSS Enterprise crew: Peter Siebold, Michael Alsbury

A total of 370 customers have already placed a deposit (totaling $50 million) for a place on the flight, and about 80,000 people have placed their names on the waiting list. The trip will cost about US$200,000, and passengers will experience a few minutes of weightlessness during the suborbital flight.